Syria accuses Israel of carrying out missile attack on Damascus

According to the Syrian official news agency SANA, amid rising tensions since the conflict in the Gaza Strip began more than two months ago, Syria accused Israel on Sunday of carrying out a fresh missile attack on the outskirts of Damascus. According to an unnamed military source, the Israeli adversary launched an air strike from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights at roughly 22:05 local time, hitting several locations in the countryside around Damascus. The same source claimed that although the aggressiveness resulted in two soldiers being wounded, no deaths were reported and that the Syrian air defences intercepted and shot down some of their missiles, limiting losses to material damage. Nonetheless, the Israeli missiles struck a military location close to the Al-Dimas residential neighbourhood, killing two unnamed members and injuring several, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The UK-based NGO, which has a large network of local contacts, continued by saying that the strikes also hit Syrian air defence installations and military locations housing Hezbollah-affiliated soldiers. Since the Gaza Strip war, the group has kept track of 34 Israeli attacks on Syrian territory, which have resulted in the deaths of 38 military personnel and 2 civilians. In keeping with a promise it made to the United States on Friday to alleviate the dire humanitarian situation left behind by the war in the Palestinian enclave, Israel confirmed that it has permitted 79 trucks carrying humanitarian aid to enter Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border crossing on the same day that Syria denounced an attack. The total number of trucks transferred on Sunday was 201 after an additional 122 trucks that were inspected at the Nitzana crossing were sent to Gaza via Rafah, the border that separates Egypt and the Gaza Strip. In an effort to reduce traffic at the Rafah border, the Israeli government on Friday temporarily approved the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza through Kerem Shalom for the first time. The humanitarian assistance was sent at the same time as Israel’s Chief of Staff, Hanzi Halevi, advised his forces in Gaza to reconsider firing. The appeal was made after it was discovered that the three Israeli hostages who were accidently slain by Israeli forces had been carrying a banner pleading for assistance. Three people were slain while holding a stick covered in white cloth: Yotam Jaim, a 28-year-old musician; Alon Lulu Shamriz, a 26-year-old computer student; and Samer Fouad al-Talalka, a 25-year-old Israeli Bedouin. All three were shirtless.